I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telephone answering systems and, more particularly, to a telephone answering system for allowing subscribers to make informed decisions as to whether to answer the telephone.
II. Description of the Prior Art
There are a number of telephone answering machines on the market that are electrically connected to telephone receivers. These telephone answering machines typically monitor the number of rings produced by an incoming telephone call. When the number of rings exceeds a predetermined amount, the telephone answering machine intercepts the incoming call and records any message from the caller.
There are also telephone answering machines that help people avoid the interruption of undesired telephone calls. These machines differentiate calls from friends and calls from strangers based upon a code entered by the caller. If a correct code is entered, the call is routed to the telephone. However, if an incorrect code is entered, or none at all, the call is routed to the answering machine. Thereafter, the person returns his or her calls as desired and when desired.
There are still other times when people do not want to be interrupted by a telephone call, even calls from friends having the preassigned code. However, these previously known answering machines do not allow for certain calls requiring immediate attention, such as calls from family members, to be differentiated from undesired telephone calls from friends.